If Brad Guzan is going to permanently claim a starting goalkeeping spot in the near future, he will have to do so at the club where he has struggled to breakthrough thus far.

After flirting with free agency, Guzan re-signed with Aston Villa on Monday, the Premiership club announced on its website. The U.S. men's national team goalkeeper agreed to a new three-year deal that will see him stay through the 2014-2015 season, and it is believed that new Villans manager Paul Lambert is going to give Guzan every chance to try and claim the starting role ahead of Shay Given this upcoming campaign.

The 27-year-old Guzan, who will join his teammates immediately in Philadelphia for Villa's preseason tour of the United States, has had a difficult time getting onto the field for the club since joining it from Chivas USA in 2008. In his first four years there, Guzan made eight league appearances and seven of those came last year while Given was sidelined with an injury.

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Think it was a good move for Guzan to re-sign with Aston Villa? How do you see Capello faring with Russia? Still expecting Ibrahimovic to join PSG?

Hard to believe Guzan couldn’t get a gig from one of the newer or lower ranked teams in the EPL since he was on a Bosman. If I were him I would even have gone to the Championship in order to get a job where I was more sure of playing time, preferably for a team with a good chance of getting to the EPL next year. If he can’t beat Given out as the starter this will likely turn out to be a bad move for his career.

It looks like Villa once again sold him the same old story that he will be given a fair chance to compete for the starting job. Either Guzan did not learn from his old mistakes or he did not have other good options at EPL or Championship (which is hard to believe). Well, at least, he did not sign with the Rangers.

I kept up with an AV message board last season, and their fanbase was pretty split on who should start once Given had recovered from his injury. I’d say a slight majority wanted Guzan to remain in goal. If this attitude is indicative of the general feeling around AV, Guzan stands a good chance of winning the starting spot soon. Besides, I doubt he would have signed an extension if he didn’t know something we don’t.

I disagree, if you read some of the Guzan stories, Lambert is mixed in praise, like, “played very well,” “was excellent” but also, “the club needs two or three good goalkeepers,” “stigma of being the number two,” “nobody knows what’s going to happen and it depends on whoever does well.” Not exactly pro-Given but not penciling in Guzan either.

So, I think he will get same chance as anyone else — I think an EPL team will pull the plug on just about anyone for performance reasons — and you have a diligent understudy, work permit cleared, probably not making first string wages, and an American owner I believe (Lerner).

So, from Villa’s perspective, he’ll get his chance, but it could be as much of a depth concept as him starting. Of course you encourage Brad to play hard just the same, maybe magic happens, but maybe he motivates Given or someone else. Villa I’m sure would be content just to make inroads on that 53 GA with whomever shows best.

If indeed they are merely $500K apart, I expect the deal will get done at around $2 mil. It could turn out a good move for Cameron, although I am a bit sceptical about Stoke’s ability to utilize Cameron’s passing out of the back as they clearly prefer the longball approach with the ball flying in the air rather than keeping the ball on the ground. But overall I think that this potential move to EPL has a big upside for Cameron.

Gotta remember Guzan has a wife. So he has to factor in her on any decision same as Dempsey and his family. Sucks that he did not get much interest. I think he should have moved to Hull or Ipswich. Those are decent Championship clubs.

Guzan has a chance to be better than Howard. The USMNT needs him to take the Villa job because it needs someone to put legitimate pressure on Howard and keep him hungry. No other American keeper has a chance to do that right now.

Given is older, more injury prone and makes more money than Guzan. At his very best he may be better than Guzan but how much better? Is he worth the difference in their salaries?

Villa already know all they need to know about how good Given is, and Villa were crap with him last year.

If you are rebuilding the team anyway, and they are, it makes more sense to find out how good Guzan and this team can be.

If he flames out then you put Given in; if he works out you cut Given loose in the transfer window.

“So, from Villa’s perspective, he’ll get his chance, but it could be as much of a depth concept as him starting.”

Go back and look at Lambert’s tenure at Norwich. His keeper,Ruddy I believe, played just about every game worth playing the last two seasons.

Going by that it seems that whatever he may say, Lambert practices playing one keeper all the time and the other guy rotting on the bench.

Given’s main performance advantage over Guzan is his experience but that usually helps most in tournaments or on sides going for honors. Villa will be trying to stay out of the relegation zone. In a perfect world Given’s greater salary should not be an issue but eventually it always factors in one way or another.

On the other hand, I’ve watched him a lot over the years and when he has had a chance, like that all important 3-0 win over Eegypt in the Confederations Cup in 2009, he has usually done well. He is very steady.

One of the most telling things about a keeper is if they remain fairly anonymous while playing. If the keeper has had a steady, boring game that is usually says good things about the defense.

And I have found Guzan to be quite boring. Consequently, I never worry about him when he plays for the US.